According to a report released by the National Intelligence Council, the United States will experience the relative decline of its economic and military power, driven both by the rise of new behemoths such as China, India and the EU and by domestic constraints on its global leadership.[9]

Voyager 2 is expected to stop transmitting back to Earth in the 2020s.[10]

Futurist Ray Kurzweil puts 2029 as the year most likely for a breakthrough in Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). He expects that around this time, computers will reach human intelligence levels, and shortly thereafter surpass the capabilities of the human brain.[11]

By the end of the decade, the world population is projected to surpass 8 billion people, half a billion more than 2020, representing a slowdown in growth from the 2010s, which are expected to increase the population by 700 million.[13]

^Curry, Judith A. (2008). "Potential Increased Hurricane Activity in a Greenhouse Warmed World". In MacCracken, Michael C.; Moore, Frances; Topping, John C. Sudden and disruptive climate change. London: Earthscan. pp. 29–38. ISBN1-84407-478-1. Assuming that the AMO continues with a 70-year periodicity, the peak of the next cycle would be expected in 2020 (70 years after the previous 1950 peak).

^Enfield, David B.; Cid-Serrano, Luis (2010). "Secular and multidecadal warmings in the North Atlantic and their relationships with major hurricane activity". International Journal of Climatology30 (2): 174–184. doi:10.1002/joc.1881.